Have you used this program/app before?
• Yes, I am a power user
• Yes, but only a little
• I’ve only seen others use it
• I’ve never used or seen the program/application

Pro tip: Word cloud polls work best with one- or two-word answers. To ensure that attendees understand the concept, start the poll question with “Using one word, …”

📕 Learning-focused questions

Relevant content is the backbone of every event. To ensure it is fine-tuned to your attendees’ needs, kick off with an icebreaker live poll to discover their expectations and learning objectives.

Open text polls:What would you like to learn today?What do you expect to get out of this event/training/meeting?

Word cloud polls:Using one word, what themes do you want to hear about?

Multiple choice polls (Useful for Oxford debates):Will robots be able to act as agents in their own right and make moral and ethical decisions in the future?
• Yes
• No

Who will people in 2030 trust more with their babies: robots or humanbaby-sitters?
• Robots
• Human baby-sitters

Pro tip: Polarizing questions work great for the Oxford debate format. Run a live poll at the start to gauge the initial opinion on the topic. Facilitate a debate with guests supporting opposing arguments. Then run the same poll again to measure the shift in opinions.

🎄Seasonal questions

If you want to get your attendees excited, it’s always great to refer to an upcoming holiday. Whether it’s Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving or Halloween, being relevant will take you a long way toward connecting with your audience.

Halloween

Thanksgiving

In one word, what have you been thankful for this past year/this week/today? (Word cloud poll)

😂 Funny questions

Funny icebreaker polls are a great way to set a light-hearted tone and enliven the audience.

If age is only a state of mind, which category best describes YOUR state of mind right now?
• Cheeky child
• Tormented teenager
• Mad mid-lifer
• Groovy grandparent

Which superpower would you like to have?
• Mind reading
• Invisibility
• Teleportation
• Flying
• I already have a superpower

Have you ever…
• Had a crush on your boss?
• Peed in the swimming pool?
• Taken shampoo and conditioner from hotels?
• Told barefaced lies to your mother?
• Denied receiving work emails when in fact you did?

If you’re worried your sense of humor doesn’t always make for sidesplitting comedy, you can just add one funny answer to a simple multiple-choice poll instead.

🖌Creative questions

Word cloud polls:If you were a vegetable/fruit/color/boat/animal, which one would you be?If you were sent to a desert island, which one famous person would you bring along?

Multiple choice polls:If you could travel in time, would you want to see…
• The past
• The future

If *your city* were a breed of dog, what breed would it be?
• Jack Russell – small, tough, opinionated
• Tibetan Mastiff – or some other very rare breed that nobody knows anything about
• German Shepherd – poised and elegant but everyone’s afraid of it
• Poodle – beautifully presented but a bit of a poser
• Golden Retriever – warm, cuddly and great with children
• Pitt Bull Terrier – vicious, scary and not at all friendly
• Labradoodle – or some other curious hybrid

🤔 Industry-related questions

Get your attendees to put on their thinking caps at the start of your event. Ask them industry-related questions to help you collect priceless insights into your sector.

Word cloud polls:Using one word, what’s the biggest challenge the sector/industry/business is facing?In one word, what’s the best tech invention of the 21st Century?Which public figure is your personal hero?

Wrap up

If integrated and facilitated well, live polls can quickly transform passive attendees into active participants. Use these icebreaker questions to poll your audience at your next event to see the magic happen.

Martina is Senior Content Creator at Slido. Passionate about doing magic with words, she writes about how to make meetings and events more interactive. She loves coffee and clever pun jokes. Follow her on Twitter @MartinaCicakova.